In brief
Even before the pandemic, health and human services (HHS) providers recognized that digital technologies and reliable data are critical to improving services – from planning to delivery and commissioning – and ultimately meeting the needs of the sick and vulnerable. As Bernardo Mariano, CIO of the World Health Organization, observed: “The question is not if, but when. There should be no option to not go digital.”
COVID-19 has increased the urgency to make better use of data and analytics. But the pandemic has also catapulted many HHS organizations into the next stage of digital maturity.
A multicountry survey conducted as part of our report Embracing digital: is COVID-19 the catalyst for lasting change? found that 62% of organizations increased their use of digital technologies and data solutions during 2020. The survey highlighted several benefits, including improved user and staff experience, better access to care, increased staff productivity and more collaborative working across agencies. It also found a clear appetite to continue using technology post-pandemic.
With more HHS organizations having foundational technologies in place, health and social care systems can create data with ease, and more data than ever before will be collected by, and on behalf of, individuals. The focus must now turn to how to harness that data to provide insights that can truly transform how care is delivered and improve outcomes for patients and end users. However, the prospect of embarking on such a journey is daunting.
We believe that organizations can learn best from those that have gone before. With that in mind, we collaborated with Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) to examine how a small group of pioneering organizations are successfully harnessing data to improve services and enhance the well-being of citizens.
The five organizations in our study are as follows:
More information here.